Religion and the Oppression of Women

I’m sure we could name countless ways religion oppresses women. Women are not allowed to become priests. Women have to wear the burqa. Women cannot get abortions because religion calls them “murder.” Overall, women seem to be inferior human beings in the eyes of God, and this gives men the excuse to rape women, beat their wives, and pay their female employees a lesser rate than men. In the recent book I read, Homeless Bird—Koly underwent a lot of the suffering she did because she was a woman. Hari only married her because of her dowry, and the dowry basically conveys the message, “That’s how much it costs to get rid of you.” Women don’t have any means of supporting themselves in India, so when Koly’s Sass left her after her Sassur died, she was left homeless and had to go to a home for widows. Salvation only came for her when a man offered to marry her again.

Yes, that is all in the holy books and the traditions, but can we blame religion entirely for the oppression of women? I don’t think so. After all, we don’t listen to everything the holy books say. For example, there are seven examples of suicide in the Bible that go unpunished, but we still insist that suicide is wrong. We pick and choose what we like and what we believe to be moral from those holy books. Men happened to think that the oppression of women was moral and enforced it ever since.

Although religion may seem to have a lot to say about what women can and cannot do, it is primarily people that establish these rules and traditions. Religion can be a force for good and equality or a force for evil and inequality. Yes, people murder others in the name of religion, but there are also nuns that go where no other people have dared to go before just to help people and spread the word of God. There are countless other examples where religion is a tool to do both good and bad things.

Things that include the oppression of women. Religion is not entirely to blame as at the end of the day, it is all just about community and a belief in a higher power(s). I believe people are to blame for inequality and oppression.

Do you agree with me when I say this? What is your own perspective on religion and the oppression of women or any minority group?